At the halfway mark of the 2018 FIDE Candidates' Tournament, Fabiano Caruana is back to being the sole leader. Today the American grandmaster beat Levon Aronian, whereas Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew quickly with Alexander Grischuk.
Sergey Karjakin won his first game, against Wesley So, whereas Vladimir Kramnik and Ding Liren drew an exciting game.
Vassily Ivanchuk, who turned 49 today, is known to be one of the strongest grandmasters of his generation. The Ukrainian genius is also a member...

"I was telling my friends, I hope the spirit of Fischer is with me. I think it was!" said GM Baskaran Adhiban after winning the GAMMA Reykjavik Open at his first attempt. The Indian GM was the only player to finish on 7.5 points.
The 33rd edition of the Reykjavik Open took place 6-14 March in the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. A total of 248 players from 34 federations played, including 27 grandmasters.
On the last day, main sponsor GAMMA announced sponsorship for (at least)...

Let’s talk about Frank Marshall. This man was U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936. He was a man who beat Emanuel Lasker once and Capablanca twice, a player who feared no one. He won many tournaments against world class competition. He was an American hero who dared dream of being world chess champion.
Hmmm… I’ve mangled the time frame. So, let’s chill out a bit, toss in some basic Marshall stuff, and start from the beginning.
Born in 1877 in New York City, his family...

What was the key moment for all eight players to qualify for the 2018 Candidates' Tournament? FM Mike Klein does a retrospective on the prospective world champions, showing you how each punched their ticket to Berlin!

O.K. So now I am doing requests! A while ago I had intended to follow up my posts on Atkins and Michell with some stuff on Thomas, Yates, Sultan Khan and Alexander, but never got round to starting!
Since MiddlegamerUmesh asked for something On Sultan Khan, described by Hooper and Whyld as 'Perhaps the greatest natural player of modern times' in The Oxford Companion to Chess, I have quickly ( less than 10 hours is quick for me!) thrown together a couple of the bits and pieces that I have on...

By beating Vladimir Kramnik today, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov caught Fabiano Caruana in first place at the 2018 FIDE Candidates' Tournament. Wesley So scored his first win in this sixth round, at the expense of Levon Aronian.
If stamina will be playing an important role in this Candidates'—and why wouldn't it, in a tournament that lasts 14 rounds—things are looking grim for the two oldest participants, Levon Aronian (35) and Vladimir Kramnik (42). Both lost their second game today,...

The recent Chess960 unofficial world championship match between GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura created quite a buzz. The early viewership numbers seem to prove that there's pent-up interest from chess fans to see a unique game that truly begins at move one. Of course it must be said that watching these two players solve chess puzzles or painting by number would also be enough to draw viewers.
But if Chess960 is going to catch on, can the full allotment of positions be used? The age-old...

For the first time at the 2018 FIDE Candidates' Tournament, the day's action ended in stasis. All four games ended drawn, despite the best efforts of GM Alexander Grischuk, who played another wild encounter.
For the second day in a row, his up-and-down fight ended in a draw; today his foe was GM Levon Aronian. But unlike yesterday, where he could only show fantastic variations with three queens on the board, today's maelstrom actually produced a third queen, albeit briefly.
As has been a theme...

The 2018 PRO Chess League Playoffs start at 9:00 a.m. Pacific tomorrow with 16 extremely talented teams including eight super-grandmasters vying for a trip to the finals weekend in San Francisco. Here are some things to look for in each of these thrilling matches!
Think you know who will win the finals? Fill out your PRO Chess League bracket to win prizes!
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Eastern Division
Armenia Eagles vs Estonia Horses
The top-seed Armenia Eagles narrowly defeated...